Marjane Satrapi Quotes

Life is too short to be lived badly.

The real war is not between the West and the East. The real war is between intelligent and stupid people.

All big changes of the world come from words.

Drawing is the first language of the human being before writing. It's a transcription of how the human being sees reality, not reality itself.

When we're afraid, we lose all sense of analysis and reflection. Our fear paralyzes us. Besides, fear has always been the driving force behind all dictators' repression.

Culture and education are the lethal weapons against all kinds of fundamentalism.

My mother always told me I had to do 100 times better than a man. I had to work hard at maths, and learn four languages.

The best thing I ever did in my life was to ask, 'Do I like everybody?' And the answer was, 'No.' So why should everybody like me? If people are against me, so what? I'm against them too.

The world is not about Batman and Robin fighting the Joker; things are more complicated than that. And nothing is scarier than the people who try to find easy answers to complicated questions.

Nothing's worse than saying goodbye. It's a little like dying.

Image is an international language.

Evil is international and the fanatic is international and universal. There is no difference between a Muslim fanatic, a Christian fanatic, even a secular fanatic.

We can only feel sorry for ourselves when our misfortunes are still supportable. Once this limit is crossed, the only way to bear the unbearable is to laugh at it.

One can forgive but one should never forget.

I respect humanity. That's my religion. I can't stand these religions that are really businesses. So much money everywhere that's going to buy a really nice house in heaven - or what? I don't get it.

I'm someone who lived in a war for five years. I received bombs on my head every day of my childhood. Did that stop me from living? Did that stop me from laughing?

You hear people saying, 'Oh I'm so tired, I've had enough of Cannes.' How can you have enough of Cannes? It's just the best place to be, like a fairytale.

Always keep your dignity and be true to yourself.

People are so afraid to say the word "comic". It makes you think of a grown man with pimples, a ponytail and a big belly. Change it to "graphic novel" and that disappears.

You know, they say in France that translation is like a woman: she is either beautiful or faithful.

Here's the problem: the description of the world is always reduced to yes or no, black or white. Superficial stories. Superhero stories. One side is the good one. The other one is evil.

You draw the character from all angles - side, profile, back, etc. so the animator has this character in all the ways it looks like.

Writing is not for me. I completely lose my sense of humor when I write. I become extremely pathetic, very sensational. Images give me possibilities that I don't have with words.

I realized that I was more of a sprinter than a marathon man. With a long, long project, I get bored easily.

Hunger eats civilization. The West is not hungry; that's why they can say they're so civilized. Civilization is the biggest bluff!

You never have these moments that, you know, are always perfect. Always something happens.

Fear has always been the driving force behind all dictators' repression.

The Germans sell chemical weapons to Iran and Iraq. The wounded are then sent to Germany to be treated. Veritable human guinea pigs.

Politicians think they have answers for everything. We artists, we only have questions.

I had learned that you should always shout louder than your aggressor.

The most natural thing for us is drawing. The characters [in Persepolis] are hand drawn. We're not technical people. We don't know how to type.

I was a westerner in Iran, an Iranian in the West. I had no identity. I didn't even know anymore why I was living.

I became the voice of a generation in a very surprising way, because many Iranians recognize themselves in it. But that is not what I wanted.

I like to make mechanical stuff. Once I make a film I have to do whatever I can make onstage I make it onstage.

Cinema is a world of imagination.

I am very bad at computers. I don't really know how to write email.

I like to be sad once in a while. You need it for your equilibrium.

In any case, it's the cowardice of people like you who give dictators the chance to install themselves!

Whether this tale be true or false, none can tell, for none were there to witness it themselves.

You know, the cynicism that is in the politics, it is not for my soul. It makes me - out of me, an extremely bitter, cynical person that I hate to see in the mirror, really.

I don't consider myself as a feminist but more a humanist.

I realized then that I didn't understand anything. I read all the books I could.

As a director, you have to understand what is happening - if I don't understand it, you can't make changes.

In every religion, you find the same extremists.

If today I have to make a political statement, it is, 'I love beauty.' I think beauty makes people better.

America is a very special place. In this country, you have the best and the worst at the same time. Whatever you can imagine.

For me, drawing is a question of death and life. Every day I draw, I write, I do something.

The first writing of the human being was drawing, not writing.

Adaptation of books is never a success. When the author wants to make it, it's even worse.

I think that all stories - if you make movies about zombies and aliens - it has always to do with your personal story. If not directly, it is about your fears, your obsessions, things like that.